On the Road in California

It’s always nice to have a break from the East Coast’s cold with a trip to California in January. This time I had four workshops scheduled. The first two were pop-up sessions, one for adults and another for children, held as part of the Norton Simon Museum’s education program. The adult class met inside on Saturday morning since it was a bit cool and breezy. A lively exchange of ideas and hands-on practice in constructing basic pop-up cards ensued.

Warmer weather in the afternoon, allowed for an outdoor session with the kids. (Parents participated, too.) It was fun to be under a tent in such a beautiful garden setting, and everyone seemed to enjoy the relaxed, creative atmosphere.

The next stop was on Wednesday at the Otis School for Design in Playa del Ray. I gave a brief demo for the book structures class, then a lecture on the history of pop-ups for the entire student body.

Finally, I gave a two-day workshop for the California Guild of Bookworkers held at the Long Beach Museum. The enthusiastic group of students spent two days learning the carousel book structure and several paper engineered forms, with an eye toward incorporating photography into the work. The Guild has plans for an upcoming exhibition of photographically-based artists’ books, and I have hopes that many of the class participants will produce some pieces for the show based on what they learned in class.

Now it’s back to winter days on the East coast, which aren’t so bad since I have time to do some new work in the studio.